1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to roadways, and more particularly, but not necessarily entirely, to the repair and maintenance of roadways.
2. Description of Related Art
The repair and maintenance of roadways is a costly and time consuming endeavor. Pothole repair is particularly vexing as repairs tend to fail within a relatively short period of time making additional repairs necessary. Typical pothole repair includes the placement of a sufficient amount of a fill material into the pothole. For example, in the case of a pothole formed in an asphalt roadway, replacement asphalt-type material may be used to repair the pothole. In the case of a pothole formed in a concrete roadway, replacement concrete-type material may be used to repair the pothole.
As mentioned, pothole repairs tend to fail in relatively short amounts of time. Repair failure may be due to several reasons, the primary of which is that the repair material may not properly bond to the adjacent cured roadway. In some instances, the interface between the cured roadway adjacent the pothole and the repair material is porous such that moisture seeps into the repaired pothole. The moisture may lead to further erosion and damage in areas that have a freeze-thaw cycle. Further, automobile traffic may cause the formation of cracks at the repair-roadway interface that spread deep into the fill material. Such cracks may eventually lead to fragmenting of the fill material. It would be an advantage over the prior art to provide an improved repair method and system for repairing a pothole in a roadway.
The prior art is thus characterized by several disadvantages that are addressed by the present invention. The present invention minimizes, and in some aspects eliminates, the above-mentioned failures, and other problems, by utilizing the methods and structural features described herein. The features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.